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Collaborating with Automation to Improve Safety and Precision

How do production engineers utilize automation to increase safety and precision on the production line at a manufacturing plant? In this Spark 101 video, students will use algebra and physics to calculate variables like force, time and friction, helping highly-skilled Toyota employees employ automation to make the best use of their resources.

Meet the Presenters

Jacob Plasters

Engineering Manager
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia

Jacob started his career as an Engineering Specialist at TMMWV 11 years ago. Throughout his career, he has held several Engineering Specialist roles and now serves as Production and Environmental Engineering Manager. He received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Jacob is a Mentor for First Robotics Team #3492 (P.A.R.T.s), a role in which he has served for the past eight years.

Leah Curry

President
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia

Leah Curry is president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia, Inc. (TMMWV) located in Buffalo. Curry is responsible for all manufacturing and administrative functions of the manufacturing plant. TMMWV, established in 1996, manufactures 4-cylinder engines for the Corolla and V6 engines for the Highlander and Sienna. In addition, TMMWV manufactures 6-speed automatic transmissions for the Avalon, Camry, Highlander, RAV4, Sienna, and Lexus ES 350.
Prior to this assignment, she was vice president of Manufacturing at Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indiana, Inc. (TMMI) in Princeton, Indiana, where she oversaw all manufacturing operations at the plant that produces the Highlander, Sienna and Sequoia.
During her 20-year career with Toyota, Curry held several other manufacturing management positions at TMMI including general manager of Assembly and management positions in body weld, stamping, maintenance, production engineering, and new model launch. She started her career as a team leader at TMMI in 1997.
Curry studied industrial electronics at the University of Evansville and Ivy Tech Community College in Evansville, Indiana. She holds a TPC Certification in industrial electronics.
Curry serves on the National Board of Directors of the Manufacturing Institute and is a member of the Education Alliance, a private, non-profit organization that advocates for public school student achievement in West Virginia.

Penny Potocki

As a youngster, Potocki enjoyed taking things apart and figuring out how they worked. That natural curiosity was nurtured at a math and science magnet high school that offered some engineering classes. It was also supported by her parents, who gave her the freedom to pursue her dreams, even if neither of them shared her analytical traits.
Still, Potocki says she was the only girl on the engineering track at her high school. And she was one of only two in pursuit of an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte.
After graduation, Potocki got her start in manufacturing and industrial jobs before landing a position with a chemical company. That might seem like an odd fit with for an electrical engineer. But the firm relied on electrically controlled machinery to manufacture its products. Potocki’s job was to make sure the lines kept moving.
“In my 11 years there, I developed an expertise for electrical controls and automation,” she says. “Their instrumentation was all electrical. These were chemicals, so the processes were highly precise. It wasn’t like you could have people manually opening valves or turning on pumps. My job was to help create and maintain a system that was reliable as well as safe.”
If not for a change of ownership in 2015, Potocki would likely have stayed on that course. But with the rumor of layoffs looming, she suddenly found herself open to considering new opportunities. Fortuitously, that’s when she noticed and responded to a TMMWV job posting by a recruiter. That July, she came on board.

Rahul Sharma

ZR Engineering Specialist
Toyota Motor Manufacturing, West Virginia

Sharma is a graduate from Virginia Tech with a degree in mechanical engineering. Currently, he is a production engineering specialist for Toyota. At Toyota, he uses his engineering skills and kaizen mentality to improve our manufacturing line condition and productivity while insuring that Toyota provides the best quality product to its customers.
At Virginia Tech, along with being a full-time engineering student, Sharma was also part of the research team HEVT (Hybrid Electric Vehicle Team). HEVT competes in EcoCAR3, which is an advanced vehicle technology competition sponsored by the Department of Energy and General Motors. For HEVT Sharma and his team redesigned a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and petroleum energy usage, while maintaining safety, performance, and consumer acceptability.
Lastly, Sharma is very passionate about conserving our environment and finding new ways to fulfill the growing energy demands of our world. He believes the answers for our energy concerns lie in our ability to think outside the box and generating unorthodox ideas.

About the Organization

We’re in the business of making great cars and trucks. But we also work every day to apply and share our know-how in ways that benefit people, the community, and our planet in order to build a better tomorrow. How do we create some of the most advanced, reliable and safe vehicles? It starts with our manufacturing principles and management philosophy. We’re always looking for ways to improve our operations, always challenging ourselves to innovate, always looking to collaborate, always improving each day in everything we do. We create vehicles by listening and responding to you. Why? Because it's our belief that our cars should do more than help you go places on the road, they should also help you go places in life.

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